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Woman with smartphone: The operating systems from Apple and Google now have significantly more features than a few years ago
Photo: Fabian Sommer / dpa
Apple and Google are introducing new software features for smartphones, tablets and computers to make devices with their operating systems more usable for people with disabilities.
As an aid for deaf and hard-of-hearing people, Apple brings live subtitles to the screens of its devices, as the iPhone manufacturer announced on Thursday on World Accessibility Day.
It would make it easier for users to follow audio content, whether they're on a phone call, using a video conference, using a social media app, streaming media content, or chatting with someone next to them.
However, the live subtitles will initially only be available in English.
When they will be available in German is still open.
Google introduced a similar function for its Pixel smartphones last fall.
An app that describes what is in photos
At the Google I/O developer fair last week, improvements for the Android mobile system were announced to lower the barriers for people with disabilities.
For example, a new version of the “Lookout – Aided Vision” application was presented, with which blind or visually impaired users can have the content of photos described.
The 3.0 version of "Lookout" is designed primarily for photos from the news and social networks.
The app can also read out texts that can be seen in the picture.
The Live Transcribe app, which converts spoken language into writing and recognizes everyday noises such as a doorbell, has also been significantly improved.
Apple now has door recognition
Apple introduced “door recognition” as a new function.
"This makes it easier for blind and visually impaired people to navigate the last few meters to their destination," says Sarah Herrlinger, who is responsible for accessibility worldwide at the company.
For example, the application reports whether a door is open or closed, what signs or notices are around it and whether you have to push the door open, pull it open or press a button.
The »door recognition« can be called up via the magnifying glass app on the iPhone.
On World Accessibility Day, experts also pointed out that some everyday household appliances such as ovens, toasters, washing machines or even kettles are becoming increasingly difficult to use for people with disabilities.
For example, manufacturers would replace conventional switches or knobs on the devices with touch screens that are not designed to be barrier-free.
In some cases, such devices can also be operated by people with disabilities if there is an associated smartphone app that can read out the temperature or the set program for ovens, for example, said Artur Ortega, software architect at the British healthcare provider Babylon Health.
»But to do this, the apps must also be designed to be barrier-free.« In contrast to manufacturers from the USA, where barrier-free access is required by law in many cases, there is a considerable backlog demand among manufacturers in Germany.
mbo/dpa
